Today : world première of 'Egmont' by Christian Jost in Vienna

Today, the Theater an der Wien presents the world première of Egmont, an opera in 15 scenes composed by Christian Jost, with a libretto by Christoph Klimke and the composer using works of Goethe.

It is the composer's 10th opera. His previous operas include Hamlet (Komische Oper Berlin, June 21st, 2009), Mikropolis (Komische Oper Berlin, October 30, 2011) and Rote Laterne (Zürich, March 8, 2015).

The Spanish Netherlands rise up against the rule of Philip II. They are demanding freedom of religion and greater autonomy for their country. Spain’s governor, Philip’s half-sister Margarete of Parma, repeatedly  tries to find compromises. The Dutch nobility hope that she will act as their ally in search for a diplomatic solution. In  particular, Prince Egmont of Gaure is one of those wishing to negotiate a satisfactory  and fair peace with her help. Philip II, however, sends the Duke of Alba, who has a reputation for ruthlessness, to his sister with the task of putting an end to all discussion through armed force. Egmont refuses to believe that Philip is so inflexible. But it quickly becomes clear how hopeless this all is: Alba secretly has Margarete  murdered. Now he has the imprudent Egmont arrested and the only hope the  prisoner and his beloved Clara have is Alba’s son Ferdinand who seems fascinated  by Egmont’s ideas of freedom: will he break the cycle of oppression and exploitation or will he only perpetuate it ? (reproduced from the Theater an der Wien website)

The cast includes tenor Edgars Montvidas (Egmont), soprano Maria Bengtsson (Clara), mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager (Margarete von Parma), bass baritone Karoly Szemeredy (Macchiavelli) and baritone Bo Skovhus (Herzog Alba). Michael Boder conducts the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor. Keit Warner directs.

The score is published by Schott.

Received this morning : programme book for Anno Schreier's 'Hamlet' in Vienna

This Saturday morning, I have received in the mail the programme book published by the Theater an der Wien in Vienna for the world première performance of Anno Schreier's Hamlet. The first performance was on September 14.

It is a 100 pages book. It contains :

- the complete cast and crew ;
- color photos of rehearsals (38 pages) ;
- synopsis ;
- Mythos Hamlet, by Jan Kott (from Shakespeare heute, 1970) ;
- "Das muss ein Ausweg sein !", Hamlet im Mikrokosmos, a dialogue with librettist Thomas Jonigk and director Christof Loy, by Karin Bohnert ;
- "Schönheit ist nicht nur Harmonie", a dialogue with composer Anno Schreier, by Karin Bohnert ;
- Vom Amleth zu Hamlet - Quellen und Vorformen, by Karin Bohnert ;
 - Er gehört der Ewigkeit - über Shakespeare, by Peter Kümmel ;
- Die Revision des Ich, by Harold Bloom ;
- biographies of the cast and crew, with color headshots ;

The book is entirely in German, but it contains an English synopsis of the opera at the end. I now have 431 programme books for contemporary operas in my collection. All the covers are available in this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'Hamlet' composed by Anno Schreier in Wien

Today, the Theater an der Wien in Vienna presents the world première of Hamlet, an opera in 25 scenes composed by Anno Schreier, with a libretto in German by Thomas Jonigk, based on the play by William Shakespeare, Historia Danica by Saxo Grammaticus and Histoires Tragiques by François de Belleforest.

It is the composer's seventh work of musical theatre. He has already composed two operas : Kein Ort. Nirgends (2006), after Christa Wolf and Möder Kaspar Brand (2011) after Edgar Allan Poe.

Hamlet, the old king, is dead, presumed poisoned. His widow Gertrude now plans to marry his brother, Claudius. She seems to have an over-affectionate relationship with her son, Hamlet. Presumably for this reason, and on grounds of decency, the son disapproves of her mother's remarriage so soon after his father's death. The young Hamlet feels that everything is becoming too much for him: his feelings towards his mother, his father's death and the looming prospect of one day succeeding him as king which would mean having to accept him or the new king, his uncle Claudius, as a role model. What is more he is sure that it was Claudius who killed his father. How should he react in this situation ? Gertrude is soon pregnant and convinced that the child will be a boy. Hamlet feels surplus to requirements and starts to suffer fits of depression. Gertrude engages Ophelia, a high-class prostitute who also bestowed her "favours" on the late king, as a distraction for Hamlet. However, the nature of her profession is also causing Ophelia to feel depressed. She and Hamlet realise that they have an emotional bond and fall deeply in love with each other. Gertrude now persuades Claudius to murder Ophelia. Once she is dead, Gertrude sets Hamlet against Claudius so she will be rid of him as well, but her plans go awry when Claudius stabs Hamlet to death. Claudius publicly expresses his regret at the death of the crown prince before securing family ties with the pregnant Gertrude. (reproduced from the Theater an der Wien website)

The required orchestra is the following :

- 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling English horn), 2 clarinets (2nd doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (2nd doubling contrabassoon) ;
- 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones and 1 tuba ;
- percussions (2 players) ;
- harp, strings.

The cast includes baritone André Schuen (Hamlet), countertenor Jochen Kowalski (Dead Hamlet, former King, a spoken part), soprano Marlis Petersen (Gertrud, Queen) and baritone Bo Skovhus (Claudius) who recently performed the title role of Aribert Reimann's Lear in Paris. Michael Boder conducts the Symphony Orchestra of the Austrian Radio (ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien) and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor. Christof Loy directs.

The opera should last about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The first performance will be broadcast by Austrian Radio OE1 on Friday 16 September.

Received in the mail this Wednesday morning

This Wednesday morning, I have received the following in the mail :

- Halle, Bühnen : June and July-August 2014 leaflets ;
- Hannover, Staatstheater : June 2014 leaflet ;
- Hof, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Karlsruhe, Badisches Staatstheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Luxembourg, Théâtres de la Ville : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- München, Bayerische Staatsoper : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Oslo, Den Norske Opera & Ballet : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Vienna, Theater an der Wien : 2014-2015 season program books ('Das neue Opernhaus' and 'In der Kammeroper').